Paper Title: Internet Self-Efficacy And Interaction Of Students In Mathematics Courses

Abstract: Interaction creates an essential environment in learning Mathematics effectively and opportunities for teachers and students to talk about their own thinking, and reflection on students’ learning process. This study was conducted to identify the underlying relationship between internet self-efficacy and interaction of the freshmen students in Mathematics courses. The study used a descriptive-correlational technique involving 439 students from the selected universities and colleges in Davao City, and criterion sampling were used. Findings revealed that the respondents had extensive internet self-efficacy and interaction in Mathematics courses. The results further revealed a strong significant relationship between internet self-efficacy and interaction in Mathematics courses. The results of regression analysis also revealed that the three predictors of internet self-efficacy had a significant influence on interaction in Mathematics courses and suggested that a reasonable percentage of the variance on interaction in Mathematics courses can be explained by the three predictors. Furthermore, among the three predictors, the extent of self-efficacy in system manipulation was the most influential factor that contributed to the level of interaction in Mathematics courses.

In each, EuropeInternational conference, the BEST PAPER award is given to best researchers. In STRA, the Best paper award is given to the participants with the best scholarly paper submitted and presented at the conference.

This work presents detailed and systematic theoretical investigations of the thermal conductivity of seven different SiC samples prepared by different experimental groups under different conditions and contain different levels of impurities. The study is based on applying the full form of the Callaway’s theory and employing the Srivastava’s rigorous treatment of the three-phonon interactions. Our theoretical results are in a very good agreement with the reported experimental measurements for samples studied in this work. This study provides quantitative analysis of the contributions from different scattering processes towards thermal resistivity of SiC over a large range of temperature. The contribution from N-drift term to the thermal conductivity at different temperatures has also been quantified. The mode-average phonon mean-free path has been calculated and presented.

Abstract: Fouling is a major limitation of a reverse osmosis (RO) process not only due to decreasing the water flux, but also change the solute rejection. The chemical cleaning to restore RO membrane performances can be distinguished into two steps; an acidic agent aims to remove inorganic precipitates and an alkaline agent aims to remove organic matters. In this study, the optimization protocols for the chemical cleaning conditions in RO process using response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with forwarding osmosis (FO) testing set-up was proposed. The fouled membrane pieces were chemically cleaned by a commercially available acidic and alkaline solution according to the RSM designed conditions of various pH, concentrations, and temperatures. Then, the membrane permeability and salt rejection were examined in FO mode. Based on response surface plots, the most influential factor in membrane permeability was the concentration of chemical agent, whereas pH and temperature were not significant as much as the concentration. The optimum cleaning conditions were 3% of an acidic agent concentration and ambient pH after adding acidic chemicals followed by 3% of an alkaline agent concentration and controlled pH lower than 13 due to the membrane operating limitation. Both steps carried out at 30°C. At the suggested optimal conditions, the water flux was recovered of 86.07% with the salt rejection of 83.56%, compared to a virgin membrane in RO mode. Therefore, the RSM coupled with FO testing set-up could provide the better understanding of the relationship between factors and significant factors which affected the membrane permeability. In addition, it could be used as the fast and effective method to determine optimal cleaning strategies for chemical cleaning agents in the RO membrane process.

Paper Title: Optimal Control of Neutral Lipids in Microalgae Production with Nutrient Limitation

Abstract: Consumer demand for fuel was increasing, while the supply of fuel has begun dwindling. Therefore, it is necessary to undertake an effort to develop a renewable alternative energy such as usage of microalgae. Microalgae has four main components of substance i.e carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acid and lipids. The relatively high lipid levels can be used as a source of biomass with using light, glucose, nutrients, carbon dioxide and water. Nutrient concentration is modified to keep the concentration of biomass through the dilution rate. In addition, carbon dioxide regulated also an influence of microalgae production in the photobioreactor. Thereby, we used dilution rate and carbon dioxide mobilization as optimal control using Pontryagin Maximum Principle method to increased biomass and quota lipid production. Hence, the result is biomass increased as 4, 5678% and quota lipid increased 44, 9727%.

Abstract: When pupils drop out from schools, apart from pupils’ own personal implications, there are risks of an increase in criminal activities, unemployment, drugs, and other related problems. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where social capital is decreasing and employment prospects are low, the risks are aggravated. In Tanzania, the Government has done very well in deploying ICT systems for collecting education management information and aggregating them at regional and national levels. However, utilization of collected statistics at lower levels is still very low due to a number of issues including poor analysis and statistical capacities to transform the data into useful insights. The number of initiatives that are in place has been limited to descriptive analysis and their implementations did not go beyond pilot stages. In this research, we proposed a tool for translating collected statistics into useful resource allocation optimization model. The model enables district officers to reallocate dropout resources in efficient ways maximizing the impact of the dropout interventions

Paper Title: A Study Of Jordanian Local Architecture In The Villages And Cities

Abstract: This paper sheds light on vernacular and traditional architectural in Jordan, especially the residential traditional building. They are characterized by simplicity in the construction techniques and their relevance to the location and climate. Jordan has witnessed several civilizations at the time; as a result, there are various archaeological sites that proof the human settlement on its land. Each period of time left its impact on the building style; as a result, the vernacular and traditional architecture were found. So, the key role of the paper is to study the typical design elements, which were used in the vernacular architecture to satisfy the occupant’s needs. The other objective of the paper is to study the material and traditional building techniques that were used in the traditional buildings. Also, it classifies the traditional residential building into rural and urban building based on the time of emerging. The research methodology will base on the descriptive methods and on the secondary data of the traditional architecture. The result shows that the traditional residential building in Jordan can be classified into two main types are; fallhi house and urban house. Fallahi house contains the houses that constructed in the villages, where the urban houses contain the houses that constructed in the cities. Fallahi house contains several types are; Al-Qanater Houses and Al-Mastabeh houses. The urban houses contain the courtyard houses, three-bay houses and the gallery houses.

Thank you for your interest and support in our organization. STRA now has over 5256 members from 45 countries. We are happy to launch our first newsletter for our Association. Here are some of the glimpses of our current and upcoming endeavors.

Conferences Held

STRA has successfully organised following International conferences in the period of August 2017 -November 2017:

We thank all members, participants and supporting organisations for making these conferences successful.

International Collaborations

It is our constant endeavour to associate with academicians, researchers, students, professionals and organisations. This collaboration is the crux of our growth and contribution to the society. We are proud to have following organisational collaborations:

Young Research Scholarship

(August 2017 -November 2017)

In order to Promote Young Researchers, STRA International conferences, Provides Young Research Scholarship in the form of full Registration fee waiver to participate in such events. Following scholars were awarded YRS during this period:

Paper Title: Living Tower Construction as Fish Apartment with Glass Powder/PET Composite Basic Technology
ABSTRACT: Indonesia is the country with the 4th largest population in the world that is 225 million that every day produce waste both organic and inorganic. Total waste produced by Indonesia each year is 1.29 million tons, making Indonesia the second largest contributor of waste in the world. Inorganic waste can not decompose easily in the wild, plastic bottles just take 50-100 years to decompose while the glass bottle itself takes 1 million years. The duration of this decomposition process causes waste to contaminate only soil, water, or air if not treated properly. In addition, Indonesia has an area of ​​coral reefs reaching 50,875 square kilometers, or about 18% of the total world. In coral reefs live fish populations and other marine biota recorded 2,200 or 31% species of reef fish in the world are in Indonesian waters. However, illegal fishing and water pollution account for about 70% of dead and damaged coral reefs. As a result, species of marine biota that exist increasingly extinct. These two things are a big problem and should be resolved soon. The Tower of Life as a fish apartment made from glass and plastic bottle waste can overcome the amount of garbage that accumulates and provides a home for the existing marine fish population. The Tower of Life design has a unique shape, in which this life tower has 4 structural building poles around it made from glass powder/ PET composite technology arranged so as to suit marine conditions, and has a main pole as a gathering place for fish made from natural fibers As a place to attach fish eggs. Making Tower of Life is able to reduce the waste of glass bottles, and plastic bottles as much as 6.6 kg for every 1 unit produced. Moreover the Tower of Life can preserve the marine ecosystem by replacing the function of coral reefs so as to increase fish populations.

Keywords: Composite, Glass powder, Living Tower, PET

Saif Akram

Department of Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

ABSTRACT: Experiments were carried out to study the effects of corrugated triangular tabs in controlling the mixing of Mach 1.5 elliptic jet. The aspect ratio of the nozzle at the exit is 3.37. The results of the corrugated tabs are compared with the simple triangular tabs and the effectiveness of both the tabs are found out by comparing with the uncontrolled jet. The blockage caused by the simple tab is 2.5% each for two tabs. Whereas, it is reduced to 2.2% for the corrugated tabs. The corrugations used in the present investigation were square. The experiments are carried out from NPR 3 to NPR 8 covering both favorable and adverse pressure gradients. The centerline pitot pressure decay for the jets, without control, with plain triangular tabs, and with corrugated triangular tabs, revealed that both the tabs are leading to a considerable mixing enhancement of the supersonic elliptic jet at all the pressure conditions studied. But unlike the axisymmetric jet, the CPDs for both the tabs overlaps especially in the nearfield region. The core length for the uncontrolled jet is around 5D whereas, it comes down to about 1D for both the tabs at NPR 3. Thus, about 80% reduction in core length is achieved by both simple and corrugated tabs at minor axis. Therefore, the performance of corrugated tabs to control the elliptic jet is similar to the simple triangular tabs. But, since the blockage offered by the corrugated tabs is lesser, it is advantageous from thrust loss point of view.
Keywords: Corrugated tabs, supersonic, elliptic jet, passive control

ABSTRACT: Phytocystatins are cysteine proteinase inhibitors present in plants. They play crucial role in maintaining protease-anti protease balance and are involved in various endogenous processes. Thus, they are suitable and convenient targets for genetic engineering which makes their isolation and characterisation from different sources the need of the hour. In the present study a phytocystatin has been isolated from garlic (Allium sativum) by a simple two-step process using ammonium sulphate fractionation and gel filtration chromatography on Sephacryl S-100HR with a fold purification of 152.6 and yield 48.9 %. A single band on native gel electrophoresis confirms the homogeneity of the purified inhibitor. The molecular weight of the purified inhibitor was found to be 12.5 kDa as determined by SDS-PAGE and gel filtration chromatography. The garlic phytocystatin was found to be stable under broad range of pH (6-8) and temperature (30°C-60°C). Kinetic studies suggests that garlic phytocystatins are reversible and non-competitive inhibitors having highest affinity for papain followed by ficin and bromelain. UV and fluorescence spectroscopy revealed significant conformational change upon garlic phytocystatin-papain complex formation. Secondary structure analysis was performed using CD and FTIR. Garlic phytocystatin possesses 33.9 % alpha-helical content as assessed by CD spectroscopy.
Keywords: Phytocystatin; cysteine proteinase inhibitor; gel-filtration chromatography

Paper Title: A novel approach for quality maintenance and shelf life extension of fresh-cut Kajari melon: Effect of treatments with honey and soy protein isolate

ABSTRACT: Effect of treatments with different concentrations of honey (0 mL/L of water, 50 mL/L of water, 100 mL/L of water, 150 mL/L of water) followed by coating with soy protein isolate (50 g/L of water) on fresh-cut Kajari melons was investigated. Effect of honey separately without soy protein isolate coating was also investigated. The treatments were given prior to packing the samples in polypropylene trays and stored at 4 C for sensory and overall shelf life studies. A total of eight combinations of samples with three replicates each were analyzed for various quality attributes throughout the storage life. Highest weight loss occurred in untreated melon samples. Sample treated with 150 mL honey/L of water þ50 g SPI/L of water maintained highest total soluble solids throughout the storage. Sensory scores below 5 were given to control sample after day 8 of storage. Samples treated with honey (150 mL/L of water) showed better results in terms of most of the sensory characteristics. Ripening index decreased remarkably over the storage period with control sample reaching lowest values in comparison to treated samples. Total plate count of 9.63 log colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) for control sample and counts of less than 5 log CFU/g for treated samples were observed at the end of the storage.

Paper Title: A Comparative Study Of Morpho-Anatomy, The Content Of Chlorophyll And Ascorbic Acid On Ardisia humilis Thunberg In The Area With Different Light Intensity At The Nature Preserve Of Pananjung Pangandaran, West Java

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted in order to seek out different morpho-anatomy responses, the content of chlorophyll and ascorbic acid in Ardisia humilis Thunberg in the area of different light intensity in the nature preserve of Pangandaran. The determination of the location was based on the existence of Ardisia humilis Thunberg in the area both with direct exposure of sun light and not. The location to obtain the open area-sample was located behind the office of Conservation of Natural Resources (BKSDA) with the light intensity of 922.000 Lux. The light intensity of the area without direct sun light exposure was 7906.6 Lux and the location was in Ciborok. Three leaves of three different plants were obtained as the samples. The observed parameter was the width and thickness of the leaves, the density of stomatal, the thickness of palisade, the content of chlorophyll and ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid test used the method of iodometric titration. The result of the study showed that the average of the leaf thickness, leaf area, stomatal density, palisade thickness, chlorophyll content, and ascorbic acid on sun leaves were 0.25 mm, 46.032 cm2, 132.48 sel/mm2, 54.89 µm, 10.88 CCI, dan 0.0077 mg/g, respectively; while, for shade leaves were 0.23 mm, 57.159 cm2, 116.63 sel/mm2, 47.66 µm, 32.41 CCI, dan 0.0107 mg/g, respectively.

ABSTRACT: Carbon synthesis research from coconut shell with HCl activation as electrode layer has been done. Carbon from coconut shell is a type of activated carbon that has a relatively small pore size or in the nanometer scale. This study aims to determine the effect of carbon activation with HCl on the size of crystals in the process of making electrodes. The method used is doctor blade. Making electrode by way of pellet or doctor blade with surface area on copper foil 2 x 5 cm, then dried with temperature 150oC for 1 hour. After that, the electrodes were characterized by SEM to show the surface morphology of the carbon with magnification of 3000x and 5000x. The sample was not yet nanometer-sized and still in micron scale the size range of 5 micrometers.
From EDX analysis there are elemental content CK 89.59%, OK 4.54%, SiK 3.05%, KK 0.73%, AlK 0.64%, CuK 0.58%, ZnK 0.35%, NaK 0.34% and ClK 0.15%. The XRD characterization shows the amorphous diffraction peak with the smallest crystal size ratio on the carbon pure electrode and activation carbon is 106.60 nm and 15.46 nm.
Keywords: Carbon Coconut Shell, HCl, Doctor Blade and Electrode

Paper Title: Association of Sedentary Behaviour and Mental Health among Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT: Sedentary behaviour contributes to adverse physical health outcomes in youth. Although evidence for the relationship between sedentary behaviour and mental health outcomes is emerging, little is known regarding risk of psychological distress and low self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of sedentary behaviour with psychological distress and self-esteem in a well-characterised young adult population after controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. We adopted a cross-sectional study design. A sample of 352 participants, 208 (59.1%) females and 144 (40.9%) males responded to a survey. Participants were recruited from University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. Sedentary behaviour of the participants was determined by Sedentary Behaviour Questionnaire. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to measure psychological distress and global self-esteem respectively. Analysis of sedentary behaviour demonstrated that participants have high sedentary times. The highest sedentary behaviour engaged by the participants was doing paperwork or computer work, followed by sitting, listening to music and sitting and talk on a phone. Participants spent least time playing musical instruments. Multi regression analysis was performed to determine the level of significance. Sedentary behaviour showed a statistically significant association with psychological distress and self-esteem. Sedentary behaviour can lead to mental health problems in young adults. These findings have a number of important implications for policy and practice. They highlight the need to ensure that young people have appropriate and timely access to evidence based services and interventions across the continuum. Further high-quality longitudinal or interventional research is needed to confirm findings and determine the direction of these relationships.

ABSTRACT: Mangroves are distinctly dominated in tropical and subtropical areas as special kind of trees, palms, shrubs, vines and ferns. Ceriops tagal is one kind of mangrove species which shows monospecific distribution in Rakawa lagoon in Sri Lanka. There are certain factors which influence the natural regeneration pattern of Ceriops tagal. Light intensity is one of the factors which penetrates through canopy gaps and regulates the growth of seed, seedling and sapling and these canopy gaps are resulted mainly due to anthropogenic canopy eradication. However, the studies on the influence of man-made canopy gaps on natural regeneration pattern of mangroves in Sri Lanka are limited, hence the current study was carried out in Rakawa Lagoon in July 2014 to estimate the regeneration pattern of Ceriops tagal by the means of mean seedling, sapling density and live, dead seed densities in open canopy sites with regard to closed canopy sites and further, to compare the mean density values of Seedling plus sapling obtained in July 2013 to get the overall knowledge on the effect of canopy gap for continuous regeneration pattern of Ceriops tagal. Consequently mean density of seedling plus sapling were taken as regeneration class 1 and height of seedlings and saplings and the number of live and dead seeds were documented from randomly selected three homogenous plots ,(4m2 x 3) from open canopy sites and three homogenous plots (4m2 x 3) from closed canopy sites. Two –Sample T- test and Paired T-test of “MINITAB 16 software” were used to analyze and compare the data. Mean density of regeneration class 1 in open canopy sites was significantly higher p=0.02 (p<0.05) than closed canopy sites. Hence canopy gaps play major role in enhancing the natural regeneration and increasing the survivability of Ceriops tagal species. This study is being continued further to validate this statement.
Key Words: Anthropogenic, Canopy Gap, Ceriops tagal, Mangroves, Sri Lanka

Best Paper Awards

Here are our List of Best Paper Awardees who participated in our conference in the period of August 2017 -November 2017:

Denis Can Teoman

Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

Rutgers University,New Brunswick, United States

Paper Title: The influence of climate change, water and energy in ethnic issues: The case of Mille Lacs Lake in Aitkin County, Minnesota.

ABSTRACT: Aitkin County is a very sparsely populated county, even though it is only a 2-hour drive from the Twin Cities. Aitkin County faces similar issues with other rural counties. The issues that Aitkin County faces might not be visible by only looking at the demographics and economic statistics. The county faces issues regarding the relationship between White Americans and Native American Tribes. The following chapters on Climate Change, Water and Energy will analyze potential consequences of these three factors on the issues between White American and Native Americans and also the implications of climate change and water issues on the economy in Aitkin County. Aitkin County does not have a diversified economy, therefore negative impacts on tourism and recreation can have significant impacts on the economic status of Aitkin County residents. The case Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians reflects this conflict very clearly. In this case, the Chippewa Indians claimed that they still had certain fishing, hunting and gathering rights on lands that were ceded to the Federal Government in 1837.This paper will further analyze this case and examine its implication for further land use issues in Northern America. This paper also shows, that it is very difficult.

ABSTRACT: The foundation for good health and human development is rooted in the capacity of a nation to adequately provide good quality food in appropriate quantity and at the right time to its own people. The issue of hunger and malnutrition are central in the economic crises that have remained the lots of African countries. Communal and or political clashes, cattle rustling, insurgencies, desert encroachment, lack of fund, unabated population increase and unpredictable climatic conditions are some of the factors militating against adequate supply of animal protein in many of the African countries. It is evident that the rearing of small animals and or poultry which are prolific is now an imperative.
The development of poultry, micro livestock and wildlife are strategic options that we must consider for food security attainment and poverty reduction in our nation and the entire African continent. The need for alternative energy and protein supply feedstuffs has become very important today because of the increasing cost of conventional feed ingredients which has made the poultry products become too exorbitant and unaffordable for majority of the African populace. In order to stem this tide, cheap, easily available unconventional protein and energy resources need be investigated, and where found appropriate, should be used to mitigate the cost of producing animal feed.

Paper Title: A novel approach for quality maintenance and shelf life extension of fresh-cut Kajari melon: Effect of treatments with honey and soy protein isolate

ABSTRACT: Effect of treatments with different concentrations of honey (0 mL/L of water, 50 mL/L of water, 100 mL/L of water, 150 mL/L of water) followed by coating with soy protein isolate (50 g/L of water) on fresh-cut Kajari melons was investigated. Effect of honey separately without soy protein isolate coating was also investigated. The treatments were given prior to packing the samples in polypropylene trays and stored at 4 C for sensory and overall shelf life studies. A total of eight combinations of samples with three replicates each were analyzed for various quality attributes throughout the storage life. Highest weight loss occurred in untreated melon samples. Sample treated with 150 mL honey/L of water þ50 g SPI/L of water maintained highest total soluble solids throughout the storage. Sensory scores below 5 were given to control sample after day 8 of storage. Samples treated with honey (150 mL/L of water) showed better results in terms of most of the sensory characteristics. Ripening index decreased remarkably over the storage period with control sample reaching lowest values in comparison to treated samples. Total plate count of 9.63 log colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) for control sample and counts of less than 5 log CFU/g for treated samples were observed at the end of the storage.

ABSTRACT: Lighting allows users to accomplish their tasks, feel safe and understand the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is an inseparable component of buildings. Building codes, energy standards and regulations determine the required illuminances to provide visual comfort. However, the existing requirements are constituted considering healthy eyes only. Different visual comfort requirements for people with visual disabilities, in particular for elderly people, are not clear. In fact, the illuminance requirements show great difference for elderly people. For instance, an average 60 years old eye requires three times more illuminance than an average 20 years old eye. Therefore, a lighting design that complies with the regulations may not satisfy elderly users’ needs.
The world’s older population continues to grow remarkably. The increasing share of population of older people requires increase of awareness. In this study, technical lighting information has been offered to obtain visual comfort in living spaces occupied by elderly. Such information is critical for lighting design yet not sufficiently covered in literature. For that reason within this study, different visual requirements of each space type are emphasized to promote accessible design.

ABSTRACT: Temperature is by far the most commonly measured physical quantity; sensors of temperature account for 80% of all sensors worldwide with market of USD 5.13 Billion in 2016. Temperature sensors are used across a broad spectrum of human activities, such as in medicine, home appliances, meteorology, agriculture, and industrial and military contexts, to mention some of the most significant areas. Among emerging optical thermometry methods, luminescence thermometry has gain the most attention because of the sensitivity of luminescence on temperature and the ease with which luminescence can be detected in comparison to other optical signals.
Here, we aimed to develop the high-sensitivity luminescence thermometry probe which can utilize the ratio of two spectrally distinct emissions from two luminescence centers, one center whose emission intensity rapidly quenches with temperature (Mn4+) and one whose luminescence is insensitive to temperature changes (Ho3+) over the temperature range of interest (10 – 80°C). To achieve this goal, we have prepared Mg2TiO4:1%Mn4+ and Y2O3:1.5%Ho3+ by Pechini and Polymer complex solution methods, respectively. Luminescence emissions were measured by 465nm excitation from 450W Xenon lamp on Fluorolog-3 Model FL3-221 spectrofluorometer system (Horiba Jobin-Yvon), and the luminescence ratio is calculated to obtain the calibration curve. To test thermographic performance of the newly developed probe, an uncertainty analyses is conducted and repeatability measurements were performed.

ABSTRACT: Electrochemical micromachining is a technique developed for creating micro features in hard to machine materials. Nimonic 75 alloy is one such material which finds application in aero engine turbine parts. Laser beam and electro discharge machining are the processes used for machining Nimonic 75 alloy, owing to their drawbacks like heat affected zone and stresses, an attempt has been made to machine Nimonic 75 alloy of thickness 500 µm using electrochemical micromachining. In this investigation, employing solid tungsten carbide of diameter 500 µm as the tool, micro profiles were created in Nimonic 75 alloy sheets. The variable input parameters considered here are pulse on time, pulse off time, duty cycle and their influence on performance characteristics such as MRR, overcut, and conicity were studied. Experimental results have shown that lower value of duty cycle have produced appreciable MRR, lower overcut and conicity.

ABSTRACT: CEMDB is a freely available e-database for facilitating exploration of cancer epigenetic proteins & their modulators. The contents of this database ranges from protein families of cancer epigenetic, to their structural data and inhibitors, pharmacokinetic properties, information related to their toxicology and cheminformatics. Protein family names can be used for accessing relevant ligand names, ligand structures and substructures. Overall, this database will be useful for designing new drugs and therapies for disease like cancer. The principal purpose of developing the database is to provide an information platform for researchers interested in the field of cancer epigenetics. We believe that the information & tools presented in CEMDB will welcome aspiring researchers to start drug designing outline and bring about an improvement in the field of cancer epigenetics. This knowledgebase would be helpful to cancer biology researchers, especially those interested in epigenetic regulation.
Keywords: CEMDB, cancer, epigenetics, database, proteins.

Paper Title: Association of Sedentary Behaviour and Mental Health among Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT: Sedentary behaviour contributes to adverse physical health outcomes in youth. Although evidence for the relationship between sedentary behaviour and mental health outcomes is emerging, little is known regarding risk of psychological distress and low self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of sedentary behaviour with psychological distress and self-esteem in a well-characterised young adult population after controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. We adopted a cross-sectional study design. A sample of 352 participants, 208 (59.1%) females and 144 (40.9%) males responded to a survey. Participants were recruited from University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. Sedentary behaviour of the participants was determined by Sedentary Behaviour Questionnaire. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to measure psychological distress and global self-esteem respectively. Analysis of sedentary behaviour demonstrated that participants have high sedentary times. The highest sedentary behaviour engaged by the participants was doing paperwork or computer work, followed by sitting, listening to music and sitting and talk on a phone. Participants spent least time playing musical instruments. Multi regression analysis was performed to determine the level of significance. Sedentary behaviour showed a statistically significant association with psychological distress and self-esteem. Sedentary behaviour can lead to mental health problems in young adults. These findings have a number of important implications for policy and practice. They highlight the need to ensure that young people have appropriate and timely access to evidence based services and interventions across the continuum. Further high-quality longitudinal or interventional research is needed to confirm findings and determine the direction of these relationships.

Thank you for your interest and support in our organization. STRA now has over 5256 members from 45 countries. We are happy to launch our first newsletter for our Association. Here are some of the glimpses of our current and upcoming endeavors.

Conferences Held

STRA has successfully organised following International conferences in the period of April 2017-July 2017:

We thank all members, participants and supporting organisations for making these conferences successful.

International Collaborations

It is our constant endeavour to associate with academicians, researchers, students, professionals and organisations. This collaboration is the crux of our growth and contribution to the society. We are proud to have following organisational collaborations:

Thank you for your interest and support in our organization. STRA now has over 5256 members from 45 countries. We are happy to launch our first newsletter for our Association. Here are some of the glimpses of our current and upcoming endeavors.

Conferences Held

STRA has successfully organised following International conferences in the period of December 2016 -March 2017:

We thank all members, participants and supporting organisations for making these conferences successful.

International Collaborations

It is our constant endeavour to associate with academicians, researchers, students, professionals and organisations. This collaboration is the crux of our growth and contribution to the society. We are proud to have following organisational collaborations:

Thank you for your interest and support in our organization. STRA now has over 5256 members from 45 countries. We are happy to launch our first newsletter for our Association. Here are some of the glimpses of our current and upcoming endeavors.

Conferences Held

STRA has successfully organised following International conferences in the period of Aug-Nov 2016:

21-22 July 2016, PAUM Club House, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We thank all members, participants and supporting organisations for making these conferences successful.

International Collaborations

It is our constant endeavour to associate with academicians, researchers, students, professionals and organisations. This collaboration is the crux of our growth and contribution to the society. We are proud to have following organisational collaborations:

Editorial Article

Ecological sanitation (eco-san) is defined as the system that prevents disease and promotes health; protects the environment and conserves water; recovers and recycles nutrients and organic matter to soil. The basic principle of eco-san is to close the loop between sanitation and agriculture. Closing the loop means making availability of nutrients that may have been lost if urine and fecal matter is buried and never reused. The area where there is no proper drainage facility, where water scarcity problem is major problem and where infertility of soil hinders production, ecological sanitation would be a good option. The urine and excreta is no more waste but is used as a potential resource for agriculture. So, the system is also called as productive sanitation due to its role on production. The research done in past in countries of Africa and Asia showed the positive impact of ecological sanitation in reducing diseases and reducing poverty. Although the cases might be found that the people hesitate to work with owns urine and excreta. But the knowledge on eco-san manure and its role on productivity helped to reduce their hesitation to work with eco-san manure. For my research/study during Kyoto University, the rural village of Nepal was chosen because of all above circumstances and the need to find out the solution to these problems in the reason. The eco-san toilet was installed to spread its benefits to the local people.

Thank you for your interest and support in our organization. STRA now has over 5256 members from 45 countries. We are happy to launch our first newsletter for our Association. Here are some of the glimpses of our current and upcoming endeavors.

International Collaborations:

STRA has recently signed International collaborations with the following:

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, (Mauritius)

Research SEA, Asia Research News, (UK)

Linton University College, KTG Group, (Malaysia)

We would be glad to have MoUs and collaborations with your department/society/organization.

Singapore & Malaysia Conference

We have successfully organized our conferences in Singapore and Malaysia, which were held in May, June, & July 2016 at universities Rumah Kelab PAUM Clubhouse (Persatuan Alumni Universiti Malaya), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Executive Centre, Singapore with the support of Eurasia Research. In these conferences, around 186 colleagues participated across the globe. We would like to thank all our participants and our supporters of our conferences.

Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim, Research Support Unit, Centre For Research
Services, Institute Of Research Management And Monitoring (IPPP), University Of
Malaya, Malaysia

Editorial Article

Dr. U.P.M Ashik

Research Assistant, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Title: Hydrogen: A Complete Green Energy for Impending Aeon

Hydrogen and nanocarbon are the two most emerging research topics in the field of environmentally benign energy and material science, respectively. These two treasured products can be simultaneously produced by methane transformation in a single step chemical approach. Hydrogen, the simplest, the lightest and the most abundant element in the known universe appears to be one of the auspicious energy carriers. There has been an intense research effort on this topic in recent years. Hydrogen is supposed to play a pertinent role as an energy vector in the near future mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, it can be produced from renewable raw materials such as water, biomass, or biogas. Secondly, it generates water as the only by-product during its combustion and oxidation. Furthermore, hydrogen produces three times higher quantity of energy (39.4kWh.kg-1) during its combustion than that produced by any other fuel on a mass basis, e.g. liquid hydrocarbons (13.1kWh.kg-1). Various hydrogen production method were developed, such as bio-hydrogen production, steam reforming of methane, partial oxidation, coal gasification, water splitting, biomass gasification, and thermochemical processes. Among them, methane cracking attracted as a novel technique for eco-friendly hydrogen production. In this moderately endothermic process, methane is thermally decomposed to solid carbon and gaseous hydrogen in a technically simple one step process as shown in equation (1).

CH4 → C + 2H2 ∆H298K = 74.52kJ/mol (1)

The prime benefit of methane cracking is the near elimination of greenhouse gas release. Furthermore, nano-carbon, of possible interest for a variety of potential further applications, such as gas (e.g. hydrogen) storage, polymer additives, catalyst support or direct catalyst, is the co-product in methane decomposition process.